Sacramento State to join Big West in 2026, except for football

Sacramento State will leave the Big Sky Conference to join the Big West Conference beginning with the 2026-27 academic year, the school announced this week.

Sacramento State officials have sought a waiver for the Hornets' football program to leave the Football Championship Subdivision for the Football Bowl Subdivision.

On Monday, the NCAA Football Oversight Committee delivered its recommendation that the Division I Council should not support the request. The council's formal decision has yet to be made.

In the meantime, Sacramento State will move all its other sports, most notably men's and women's basketball, baseball and softball, to the Big West. The Hornets previously were an affiliate member of the Big West for baseball from 1996-2002.

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Sacramento State to join @BigWestSports beginning in 2026-27. https://t.co/00Zh0MYmk6

— Sacramento State Athletics (@hornetsports) June 18, 2025

The rest of the conference includes California Baptist, Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, Cal State Northridge (CSUN), UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and Utah Valley.

The Big Sky will drop to nine members, mostly concentrated in Washington state, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

--Field Level Media